We’re looking for MIT students experienced in puzzle design or developing for VR this IAP & Spring!

The MIT Game Lab and Education Arcade have 4 UROP positions available, starting in IAP &/or Spring. Application instructions are at the bottom — please specify which Project you are applying for when sending your application!

The MIT Game Lab is designing a co-operative puzzle-hunt style game for 800 co-located participants that will take place over a short period of time during an event. We are looking for 2 UROPs to assist with the design of the game. UROPs would start in IAP or Spring, and could continue to work in Summer 2018.

We currently have ideas about the structure of the game, but are looking for assistance in designing multiple puzzles that would both lead to further puzzles (Mystery Hunt style) as well as require some amount of social interaction between players (similar to Assassin’s Guild games, but with less emphasis on advancing plot or story). As this is largely an non-digital game, We are also working on techniques to store and transmit data between players without requiring use of digital devices (a design constraint based on the event the game will be played within).

Commitment:
– 20 hours/week during IAP
– Interest in continuing with the project during the Spring semester for up to 10 hours/week is desirable.

Project Title: CLEVR – Virtual reality and games for STEM learning

Project Description:

The MIT Game Lab and Education Arcade is developing and pilot testing a proof-of-concept VR activity for a high school audience that leverages the affordances of VR (headset and hand controllers) to enable meaningful immersion and presence within the VR world. The learning goals for this project are to help students understand concepts of scale, particularly as it applies to biology.

We currently have a 3D environment of the interior of a human cell, in which one person in VR is exploring, and are working on a tablet-based companion app for non-VR players to interact with the in-VR player.

We are looking for 2 UROPs to join our development team this IAP and Spring, to work on our VR game mechanics. UROPs hired can also continue to work on the project during the Summer of 2018.

UROP Responsibilities:
– Working alongside and reporting to Game Lab/Education Arcade staff developers
– Development of our VR game, in Unity, for the Oculus Rift and Oculus Touch controllers
– Designing, modeling, and animating 3D assets for use in-game, of molecules, proteins, DNA, and cells

Commitment:
– 20 hours/week during IAP
– Interest in continuing with the project during the Spring semester for up to 10 hours/week is desirable.

TO APPLY:

To apply to any of these UROPs, please send a resume, link to portfolio, and cover letter (stating which Project Title you are interested in) to Rik Eberhardt . We would like to conduct interviews for students starting in IAP (January 8) ASAP.

As Studio Manager for the MIT Game Lab, Rik Eberhardt spends his days playing Tetris: with people, boxes, tasklists, equipment, and time. When not staring at a spreadsheet trying to fit in another computer purchase, a last minute event budget, or placing undergraduate researchers on a Game Lab project, he's chipping away at spreadsheets on his DS, reproducing pixel-art in Picross and Picross 3D. His favorite moments on the job are working on projects with student workers and having fun social interactions forced on him despite his busy schedule.
Contact him about research projects at the MIT Game Lab at gamelab-request@mit.edu